Family Vacation
by setterslsett
Summary: Crouch family vacations have their ups and downs.


Written for The Choose Your Wand Challenge: Gregorovich - Write about someone visiting another country.  
Written for the Colors of the Rainbow Competition: Purple: Prompt #1 - Write about about a family of the Sacred 28.  
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Suitcases packed, house locket and floo powder ready. Two of the three Crouches stood in front of the fireplace while the man of the company gave their house-elf its last instructions.

"...and I expect the house to be in perfect state when I'm back", Mister Crouch told Winky and turned. He stepped next to his wife. His hand disappeared into a brown sachet on the mantel of the fireplace and came back in sight, some reflective green powder flowing out of his hand.

"Promise me you won't work Bartemius", the woman looked at her husband.

"I promise Corine", the man answered before throwing the powder into the fireplace.

The three locked hands and stepped into the emerald flames.

"Good afternoon", the hotel manager greeted them once they'd stepped out the fire. "Family Crouch right?"

Bartemius nodded.

The man scribbled a few things on a piece of paper before handing them their keys: "You got room 25. It's on the second floor, left from the elevator".

While the Egyptian gave his parents info about local monuments, Barty watched the man. He wore a robe of white linen and had a blue cloth wrapped around his head. ' _Probably to protect him against the sun',_ Barty thought, ' _But he was inside, so there was no sun to protect himself from'._ The wizard had a warm laugh and lines around his eyes from smiling. And Barty came to the conclusion that he liked the strange wizard.

"Come on Barty", the boy turned around as his mother called him and catched up with her.

They took the elevator to the second floor just like the man had told them to. The key fitted the lock perfectly and soon they were in their room. Barty immediately let his eyes take in the place they would stay at for the next three days. The walls were white, though it wasn't the bright white that snow had, but more an old greyish white. Windows, thick curtains open, let the sunlight in, giving the room a warm atmosphere. Barty ran to the first door on the right...

"Be careful Barty".

...and opened it. Kitchen. Next door. A king sized bed: parents room. The bathroom followed and as last: his room. Barty opened the door and inspected the chambre. A bed and a night stand at the left. A small bureau and same chairs at the right. ' _Brilliant'._ He took his backpack off, placed it on the bed and made his way back to his parents.

Barty entered the kitchen since there was a big chance his mom would be there. ' _No, no one'_ , but he did see a few brochures laying on the kitchen counter. The boy took them in his hands and browsed through them while walking to the living room. There he found his parents, unpacking their suitcases. "Mom, dad, can we go to the museum?" He pointed at a large building on one of the brochure's pictures.

His mother looked up: "Barty, we're busy".

"Oh, okay", he couldn't keep the disappointment from his voice.

"We'll come get you when we're ready".

Shoulders low Barty went back to his room. He sat himself on the bed and opened his backpack. In it there were a couple of books, a chess game - he'd hoped he'd be able to convince his father to play -, a stuffed dragon, a block of paper and quills, pots of ink and pencils.

He took one of the books and started reading it. He'd need the spellbook in his next year of Hogwarts - his second year-, but he wanted to be ahead of the other students before school started.

Almost an hour passed before his mother came to get him. "We're leaving". Barty jumped up and put on his shoes. Normally he was never this enthusiastic, but he hadn't been on vacation ever before - his father had always been to busy working - and Barty was expecting a lot of this vacation since all the stories he'd heard from other student's vacations sounded amazing.

That day they went shopping. And Barty couldn't have been more bored. His mother had wanted him to try egyptian clothing and even though Barty looked ridiculous in the way to big clothes she'd bought them for him anyway. At the end of the day the boy's feet hurt from the walking and his brain was throbbing from the warmth. Barty was sure he'd produced at least ten liters of sweat.

In the evening the three went to a restaurant. It was a small, cozy place. His mom - who wanted them to try something new - ordered three random things from the menu. And even though it tasted weird, the rice thing he'd gotten wasn't bad.

Disappointed they hadn't really done anything that day (and a little afraid he had a sunburn) Barty went to bed.

He was sunburned, the boy discovered the next day. With a bit of salve his skin felt less tight, though it was still tomato red around his nose and eyes were the edge of his sunglasses had been.

"Wear this", his mother told him before wrapping the green cloth - that was part of Barty's Egyptian outfit - around his head. The young wizard watched himself in the mirror and directly concluded he looked idiotic. The cloth that was to keep the sun of his face made his head look twice as big and gave him the look of an unripe pumpkin.

They went to the pools at the hotel around eleven am, but because his mom didn't want the fabric to get wet and also didn't allow Barty to take it off, the boy couldn't swim. Trying to make the best out of it he stood in the undeep water, watching the other kids play.

He was almost crying when his parents told him to get out of the water to eat something - nothing is as disappointing as seeing people do something fun when you can't be a part of it - and was relieved they were leaving.

In the afternoon they went on a camel ride. The animals looked fun, but wouldn't go faster than one mile an hour, which got boring easily. When the pyramids came in sight Barty encouraged his camel to go faster until he was riding next to the guide. The boy started a conversation with the man and discovered he knew a lot about the history of Egypt and Barty absorbed the new knowledge.

They went to another restaurant in the evening before going back to the hotel.

"Father?" Barty asked cautiously. He'd gotten his chess game from his room and was now hugging it closely.

"Yes, Barty?" The man looked at his son over the top of his newspaper. Apparently the Daily Prophet also delivered abroad.

"Would you like to play?" He held the game out for his father to see.

Bartemius let his eyes glide to his watch: "It's late. You should go to bed".

"But…"

"No but". The stern look of his father made Barty feel small - even smaller than he already was.

"Alright". He sighed and went to his bedroom. He threw the game on the bureau. On impact it sprung open, making Barty sight in anger. He didn't clean up the pawns, spread all over the floor, but went straight to bed. He'd really hoped his father would have time for him now they were on vacation. ' _Guess I was wrong'_.

When Barty went to the kitchen the next morning his mother told him father had already gone back to attend to an urgent matter at work. Barty placed himself in the couch, staring into nothing. Noticing how disappointed her son was, Corine sat herself next to Barty: "If you want we could go out. Just the two of us. We can do whatever you want".

Barty looked up: "Could we go to the museum?" He got the folder from the coffee table and showed her the page with the info on the museum. The museum wasn't anything special: it covered basic Egyptian history and culture. But Barty wanted to learn more about the country.

"Look: a replica of Tutankhamun's tomb," Barty exclaimed before jumping to another piece of the museum's collection. His mother smiled, glad the vacation hadn't ended disappointing Barty. She loved her son, even though she didn't spend that much time with him.

They went back home after the museum visit. While they were packing Barty thought about the vacation. It had had its ups and downs, but he was used to that. The trip had been kind of disappointing - especially with his father leaving for work -, but he'd loved the time he'd spent with his mother this day. Vacation hadn't been what people had made it out to be, but it had been nice to be away from home for a while.


End file.
